1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the transfer of pane objects like glass panes from one conveyor to another device, this transfer applying especially in the context of a glass pane bending facility.
2. Background of Prior Art
It is known that during glass pane bending operations, said panes are transferred, from a horizontal conveyor on which they arrive to a bending form, for instance comprised of a curved profile frame, open at its center, with a mechanical transfer device that seizes the panes, lifts them, then releases them and/or brings them down to lay them on the bending form which, in the meantime was set up beneath the transfer device.
Such devices are described for instance in patents EP No. 3 391 by MAC MASTER, FR No. 2 085 464 by SAINT-GOBAIN.
The gripping of the glass panes is done usually as a result of a suction exerted either through the gripping means of the transfer device (EP No. 3 391) or basically at the periphery of said means (FR No. 2 085 464).
In these prior techniques, the same transfer device is mobilized during the ascent of the glass panes as well as during their descent. Hence, the rates, which are already high, cannot be increased substantially.
Furthermore, the glass panes must be stopped with great accuracy beneath the transfer device, which also increases the relative slowness of the process and requires sophisticated and therefore costly equipment.
The mechanical transfer device is also costly in and of itself, since it must be made of special materials in order to resist heat and must be made so as to be disassembled in order to be changed for each window model, which differs from the previous model in shape and/or in size.
This transfer device requires also that it be enclosed inside a heated structure which must be of significant size, especially in terms of height, in order to allow vertical movements at each grip of a glass pane, which amounts to high energy costs.